Saskatoon bishop tries out homelessness for 36 hours in charity challenge. Bishop Donald J. Bolen of Saskatoon and nine other local leaders participated. The bishop, who lives in an apartment in central Saskatoon, said the brief experience of living on the streets opened his eyes.
“The most powerful experience was the vulnerability of the situations that we were in,” Bishop Bolen said. This event took place from June 17-18 and was called Sanctum Survivor raising funds for Sanctum Care Group. This group funds hospice and transitional care for homeless people and individuals struggling with the virus that causes AIDS.
The participants slept in a city park during a 36-hour homelessness challenge. “There are a whole lot of things in my neighborhood that I knew were there and I acknowledged their existence, but I got to see firsthand a lot more of the hurt and the pain in the neighborhood, as well as the joy, and the simple relationships that exist,” the Bishop said. The participants were also given a list of tasks to complete during their day-and-a-half of homelessness to show that even simple undertakings can become difficult for those with limited resources.
“The slowing down of pace and being present in the neighborhood was a very revealing thing,” Bishop Bolen explained. “Once you go slow and you go vulnerably and you are willing to take on each situation and enter into relationship, enter into dialogue, there is a lot of take home in that.” “One of our challenges was to buy a meal, and therefore we had to do the panhandling to get the money,” Bolen described."It was an experience of the invisibility of the homeless or the poor and vulnerable.”
Bishop Donald J. Bolen said. The 10 participants raised $135,000 Canadian ($105,480 U.S.) for Sanctum Care Group. Edited from CNS
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